I’m looking for advice on coral stocking to round out my 10g Nano

[Unodostrace]

I’m really just looking for an encrusting piece or a couple of other pieces to round out my stocking in my first ever reef tank.

It’s a standard 10g lighted by a Kessil A80. It’s stocked with a decent CUC, cleaner shrimp, Yellow clown goby, and a high fin goby/pistol shrimp combo. My nutrients aren’t super low but phos stays under 0.03 and nitrates stay below 2ish.

I generally do a 5g water change weekly or about half a gallon a day if I don’t want to add all at once. I’m using Red Sea Pro Salt which will put my ph 8-8.5, ALK around 11-12 and my calcium around 445ish.

I’m really just looking for any ideas or anybody’s input on other coral stocking, or maybe even something a little more challenging for a newbie like me.

 

[Hemmdog]

Lepto or cyphastrea would be easy until the tank matures more. Then I would do acros up top right under the a80.

 

[Magellan]

Some stylos would look good in there! So would a torch or a Goni. Zoas will encrust nicely as well, but won’t add height.

 

[Unodostrace]

Lepto or cyphastrea would be easy until the tank matures more. Then I would do acros up top right under the a80.

The tanks been up for close to 10 months now. How much longer should I wait before I go for Acros?

 

[Hemmdog]

The tanks been up for close to 10 months now. How much longer should I wait before I go for Acros?

Rocks covered in coraline is a good indicator of it being mature enough. Have you been monitoring and keeping alk, cal, salinity stable?

 

[Unodostrace]

Rocks covered in coraline is a good indicator of it being mature enough. Have you been monitoring and keeping alk, cal, salinity stable?

More stable now that I’m mixing my own saltwater. It used to fluctuate pretty heavily but it’s much more stable now. Coraline growth is decent but not crazy.

 

[biophilia]

Just a warning: You may find that the yellow clown goby goes to town on acropora polyps once you start adding them to the tank. I had one (briefly!) that would slurp up acro polyps like they were candy.

 

[biophilia]

I agree that stylophora is a really great stony coral for a 10 gallon tank. It’ll add lots of height, is a fast grower, and can handle the minor swings that come with having a smaller tank better than many others.